Botanical classification/cultivar designation: Hebe hybrida cultivar Sunstreak.
The present Invention relates to a new and distinct cultivar of Hebe plant, botanically known as Hebe hybrida, and hereinafter referred to by the name xe2x80x98Sunstreakxe2x80x99.
The new Hebe was discovered by the Inventor in 1999 in a controlled environment in Pirimai, Napier, New Zealand, as a naturally-occurring whole plant mutation of the Hebe hybrida cultivar Wiri Image, not patented. The new Hebe was selected by the Inventor on the basis of its variegated foliage as plants of the cultivar Wiri Image did not have variegated foliage.
Asexual reproduction of the new Hebe by cuttings in a controlled environment in Oak Road, New Zealand since 2000, has shown that the unique features of this new Hebe are stable and reproduced true to type in successive generations.
Plants of the cultivar Sunstreak have not been observed under all possible environmental conditions. The phenotype may vary somewhat with variations in environment such as temperature and light intensity without, however, any variance in genotype.
The following traits have been repeatedly observed and are determined to be the unique characteristics of xe2x80x98Sunstreakxe2x80x99. These characteristics in combination distinguish xe2x80x98Sunstreakxe2x80x99 as a new and distinct cultivar:
1. Upright and somewhat outwardly spreading plant form.
2. Freely branching, dense and bushy growth habit.
3. Grayed green and pale yellow variegated foliage.
Plants of the cultivar Sunstreak can be compared to plants of the Hebe cultivar Waireka. In side-by-side comparisons conducted in Oak Road, New Zealand, plants of the new Hebe differed from plants of the cultivar Waireka in the following characteristics:
1. Plants of the new Hebe were more upright than plants of the cultivar Waireka.
2. Plants of the new Hebe had narrower leaves than plants of the cultivar Waireka.
3. Plants of the new Hebe and the cultivar Waireka differed in leaf variegation pattern.